Different "liberation" experiences after WWII: Lessons for the present

What does “liberation” really mean?

For many, the end of the Second World War did not bring freedom. In Ukraine and specifically Crimea, the defeat of Nazi Germany was followed by renewed Soviet control, repression, deportations, and the silencing of national histories.

In connection to Europe Day, together with the European Commission Representation in Denmark, we are organizing an event that looks at liberation as an uneven and often contested experience.

Together, we will reflect on how liberation was lived differently across Europe, and what that history can tell us today. From the Ukrainian perspective, we turn to a past shaped by occupation and continued resistance – and to the difficult questions that still surround it. From the Crimean Tatar perspective, we confront the 1944 deportation, where “liberation” became the beginning of exile and survival.

We will also place these experiences in a broader European context, where the meaning of liberation ranged from relief to reckoning, and where its consequences continue to shape political and historical narratives.

Among the speakers:

• Spartacus Olsson – historian and documentary producer, known for large-scale projects on the World Wars and public history

• Gulnara Abdulayeva (online) – historian, writer, and expert on the history of Crimea and the Crimean Tatar people

One more speaker TBC.

📅 Saturday, May 9

🕔 15:00

📍 Ukraine House in Denmark, Strandgade 27B, Copenhagen

This conversation looks beyond victory and into what follows – join us to be aware.